After We're Gone
by Muchikins
Summary: Hane (shiznhane) is a plain green aisha, living in a poor family... But his fun only begins when he meets an ínteresting'friend on a quest for the Brain Tree...
1. Into The Darkness

Living in Death  
  
Shizenhane clutched a crumpled piece of paper in his sweaty green paws. It was a note from the Brain Tree, requesting he find as much information as he could on a long deceased character by the name of Rabuchi. The Brain Tree seemed particularly interested in the details of 'Rabuchi's death, and was willing to give Hane and his family a decent sized reward in return for the information. The nervous green aisha stumbled through the Haunted Woods alone, making his way to the cemetery. Hane had never heard of a Rabuchi, and thought it sounded more like someone sneezing than a name, but his family was poor, and any help they could get was good, even that of a creepy old tree. Hane tiptoed around what he hoped was a form of spooky food. If it wasn't, he just didn't want to know. He reached the large ornate gates, one hanging by ropes, battered by time and vandals, and slipped through, not daring to move them. As soon as he stepped onto the damp grass inside the cemetery, he noticed a change in the air. It wasn't as stale, and there were flowers growing in neat garden beds around the headstones and paths. There was a pleasant feel, much better than Hane imagined earlier. He smiled to himself, feeling the warmth of relief. He picked several black roses growing by the gate, and walked down a small loose-pebble path, reading the headstones. He stopped, fascinated by the amount of detail on the tombs, contemplating the padlocks on the doors. He didn't know why, but being in the cemetery was calming, he felt drugged with content. He read the names on the stones aloud as he passed,  
  
"Gee, a lot of deceased pets. Pennidou, Shiakuma, Ga_Vara, Jiyuha, Rabuchi. RABUCHI!" he re-read the name on the paper, confirming it. He laughed to himself, something he hadn't done since he was taken from his mother and placed in the large building where all new owners created a pet. He was happy in his new home with Kojin, and his new brothers Himeichi, Utagai and Iie_Utagai, but he didn't seem to laugh with them as he had done with his litter mates all those years ago. He brushed dust and vines from the tombstone and whispered the engraved words to himself.  
  
"Rabuchi, beloved citizen of Neopia." He pondered 'citizen'. This usually meant that the deceased left no family or friends behind to grieve them. Hane felt a knot in his throat, and a feeling of pity for a person he never met. Inside a small frame, behind cracked glass there was a picture of a pretty red aisha. Her eyes weren't like other Aisha's, they were large and curious, but had lost the spark of happiness others held. Hane brushed away the dust on the glass and tried to rub graffiti from the bottom of the stone with his furry arm. No one deserved to die alone. He read the stone more. "Born Jan 20th 1988, died Jan 20th 2003. She died on her birthday." He scribbled it on the back of his paw as he read.  
  
"Suicide. Fifteen of the worst years of my life. Uh, well, they were the only years of my life. This is more like. well, I don't know." a female voice muttered. Hane looked about, wondering who had snuck up to play a trick on him.  
  
"After-life? No, that's not quite it." Hane looked up, in the direction of the voice. Hovering above the tombstone were a pair of large sad eyes. They looked directly at him, then a semi-transparent turquoise body formed around them, to create the image of a familiar-looking Aisha. Hane gaped,  
  
"Ra-Ra-Rabuchi?" he mouthed in awe.  
  
"My friends call me Rabu. Or at least they would if I had friends." She sighed, a large, bushy tail almost as large as her body swaying behind her. She seemed to move with wind, like smoke, but smelt of sweet incense. Hane blinked,  
  
"But, this says you're dead!"  
  
"Who said I wasn't? Well. Wait. It's sort of like the undead or something, isn't it? Only I don't drink blood from the living. So, maybe like a ghost? But I don't like that term. How about spectre? I like that word."  
  
Hane looked at and through her at the same time, then, slowly, cautiously, reached out to try and touch her. His paw passed through, but when it was 'in' her, it felt warm and tingly, and a little bit soft. He pulled his paw back to himself, staring at it.  
  
"Oh, right. You're scared. um, sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you. I just don't get many visitors, and I haven't spoken to anyone in a while." she slipped down from her perch, her form moving like fog, slow and graceful. Hane finally shut his mouth. She turned and smiled at him, "So, you know who I am, or, who I was. Who're you?"  
  
"I'm. I'm. I'm dreaming." Hane whispered, "Wake up!"  
  
Rabuchi blinked, "Interesting name. I swear, neopet owners have the strangest-"  
  
"No, I'm Hane. Wait, you're not real!" Hane gasped. Rabuchi looked hurt,  
  
"I wish that were true, then I wouldn't be so unhappy. If only I weren't." Hane watched her as her head sunk low, her shoulders sagging. Her tail stopped swaying and lay on the ground. Small ghost-tears formed under her thick eyelashes and she sniffed. Hane felt guilty and went to hug her, finding, quite to his surprise, that he could. He stammered,  
  
"Uh, Rabuchi. why am I able to hug you?"  
  
"Because I'm too busy crying to run away...?"  
  
"No, Rabuchi. a moment ago, I reached right through you."  
  
"Oh yeah, I'm a ghost!" as soon as the words escaped her lips, Hane fell through her, hitting the ground with a thud. Rabu watched, confused, "Huh? What the?" she moved to help him up, and this time, passed through him again.  
  
"How come I could feel you, I mean, I felt your fur. you're soft."  
  
"I don't know." Rabu replied, utterly lost. "Wait. and how could you sit on the headstone?"  
  
"I don't."  
  
"I think it has something to do with whether or not you believe you can." Hane hypothesised. You weren't thinking I'd fall through you, so I didn't. You never wondered why you were able to sit on things, so you were able to." Hane smiled, feeling as though a little light bulb should appear above his head. Rabu just stared blankly at him, fiddling with the chain-collar around her neck.  
  
"So, you're saying, if I believe I'm alive, I will be?"  
  
"I don't think it works that far. I mean, I assume your body is." he looked at the ground, "About six feet under."  
  
"No." Rabu corrected, "I was cremated. My body was sprinkled over the flowers here."  
  
"Ah, well, unless you feel like becoming a daisy, I don't recommend you believe you've got your body back."  
  
"Point taken. so, what were you saying?"  
  
"I'm saying if you believe you can do it, your new form can. Try something." Hane grinned. Rabu looked about then closed her eyes, focusing. Almost instantly, her body stretched, forming two large wings on her back. She opened an eye,  
  
"Did it work?"  
  
"Did you think about wings?" Hane asked. Rabu smiled wide and pounced into the air, the large wings beating, yet creating no wind. She hovered, only a foot or two from the ground, then flew higher. When she reached about a hundred feet, her wings disappeared and she plummeted back toward the ground. Hane's eyes widened, and he screamed, "Rabu! No!" Rabu never hit the ground, she simply, fell through it. She disappeared under a while, then resurfaced, looking as though she was swimming in it. Hane laughed at himself. Of course she wouldn't get hurt - she was already dead.  
  
Rabu smiled at Hane and he blushed. She disappeared under again, and suddenly pounced at him from the ground. She passed straight through him, sending a shivering sensation down his spine as he was filled with warmth. She didn't really land as much as redirect herself, launching herself at him in another pounce, this time, pushing him to the ground and pinning him. Hane felt the wind rushed from him, and looked up at the aishette above him. She noticed her own paw on him, and then grinned, becoming opaque. Hane watched as the sky he could see through her disappeared, and the intensity of her gaze became more obvious. She leapt off him, dancing about, ecstatic. Hane watched her; a new feeling filling his veins, no, his heart. Hane felt embarrassed - he had fallen for a deceased girl. 


	2. Dead But Not Gone

Living in Death  
  
Hane smiled at the Aisha beside him who now held a new lease on life, or. death? Simply seeing her this happy made him feel warm inside, and he wanted to introduce her to his family. He couldn't stop looking at her, and she turned, her gaze meeting his.  
  
"This is so cool. I'm so glad you stumbled on my grave." though the words were not those Hane had heard often, he smiled. Rabu batted a paw at him playfully;  
  
"Bet you couldn't catch me in tag!" she laughed, her paw passing through him. Hane chuckled,  
  
"I bet no one could." He stood up and looked around. Though the Haunted Woods was always dark and creepy, there was a night. It got no darker, just colder and quieter. Hane's ears perked to sense any danger, and he crouched slightly. He didn't hear anything, and that was the problem. It wasn't like the Haunted Woods to be deathly quiet - there was usually a bat screeching, or a girl laughing as her boyfriend tried to scare her. Hane's eyes weren't particularly good as Aisha eyes were narrow, not giving a very wide range of view, but the night-sight was a thing of beauty. As an adaptation to lousy field view, he gained excellent hearing, and the ears on his head could be swivelled to pinpoint the direction of a sound. Rabuchi watched Hane curiously. She noticed Hane's tension and nudged him gently with a soft paw,  
  
"Hane?" when he looked at her he was frowning with concentration, but his eyes changed, focusing through her at something behind her. Rabu turned around to see a large black figure standing a few metres away, tail swishing and wings fluttering. "He must have flown into the cemetery." Hane whispered, eyeing the Halloween Kougra. The large tiger-like neopet flexed, and dagger-like claws emerged from padded paws. He wasn't going away. Hane hissed, backing up a few steps. The hair on his back stuck up and his tail looked like it had been struck by lightning. As a reflex, Hane was trying to intimidate the Kougra, but the creature didn't seem at all fazed.  
  
The Kougra pounced, its face contorted into a snarl. Hane darted beneath him, kicking upward with his hind legs and winding the larger cat as he passed overhead. The Kougra flapped his wings and took to the air, flying back at Hane. The Aisha leapt up, attempting to land on the Kougra's head, but with a single beat of his wings, the Kougra lifted to the same height as Hane, slashing at the smaller neopet with his claws. Hane choked as the Kougra's claws bit deep into the soft flesh of his stomach. Hane fell to the ground with a sickening thud as the blow had knocked him. He reached a paw to his gut and felt the wet warmth. He coughed and climbed back to his paws shakily, letting his legs separate to better defend against impact, but fell again. The Kougra landed and licked the blood from his paws, grinning sadistically. He crouched low and ran at Hane.  
  
A streak of turquoise flew before the green Aisha and grew. Rabuchi's spirit body could contort as she wished it, if she believed it, her body could do it. Her new form was a larger turquoise mirror of the Kougra with a chain about its neck. Her body shifted from transparent to opaque as she made her body solid to deal a blow. She swiped with a meat-plate paw and the Kougra was knocked to the ground roughly. She roared, pouncing at the jet prey. Her eyes flashed as she rose a huge paw above him, claws out and fangs bared.  
  
"No!" Hane choked, "Enough, don't kill him!"  
  
Rabu's calm and curious eyes returned, replacing the cold emotionless ones of the Kougra form. She stepped back and her body swirled like smoke into the small Aisha form. She glared at the Kougra, who had fainted. Hane was spluttering.  
  
"Do you often do that?"  
  
"No - I'm dead; there's no need for me to protect myself. This was the first time." She replied, still looking rather angry, but trying to calm herself. Hane picked himself from the ground.  
  
"Have you battled in the Battle-dome?"  
  
"When I was alive I did, it was the only time I really interacted with others. I didn't do it much."  
  
Hane was surprised. He never battled; he was more of a sit home and read pet. Rabu was so calm, he had just assumed she was similar. He wouldn't have picked her as a fighter; she didn't seem hotheaded like his brother Utagai, who was more at home maiming things than learning. But she wasn't like that anyway; there must be more to battle-pets than Hane originally grasped. The new information flew around in Hane's head. Every moment he was with Rabu he learnt. And respected her that little bit more. He looked at her, thinking, until she looked at him in horror;  
  
"Hane - you're losing too much blood!" it was true, he didn't have to look down to know. He was dizzy, and fainted.  
  
When Hane next awoke he was lying in a hospital bed with several machines hooked up to him. The beeping was irritating, and felt like a stake being driven deeper and deeper into his skull with each annoying sound. He lifted his head to look about. His brother, Himeichi, sat on the end of his bed,  
  
"Hey there shamrock-cat." Himei had an annoying habit of never calling Hane by his name. It was always another way of saying 'green cat'. It didn't matter what was happening, it was always emerald-paws or snot-kitten or some other stupid name. Hane groaned as he tried to sit up,  
  
"Where is she?" "Who?" Himei blinked, confused by Hane's question. Hane looked around;  
  
"Rabuchi. where is she? Is she outside?" "Uh. Hane, you weren't with anyone. The hospital received an anonymous phone call from a phone box that's been out of order in the cemetery for years to send an ambulance to get you. When they got there, you were alone under a funny-looking blue-green blanket. They figured whoever called must have left it with you, but no one was there."  
  
"Where's the blanket?"  
  
"How should I know? The hospital probably has it. Why do you care, weren't you looking for a girl? What's a blanket mean anyway?"  
  
"Himei, it is vitally important you find that blanket."  
  
"Listen leprechaun-fuzz, you need a rest. Don't get so worked up over-"  
  
"Himei! Please."  
  
"Fine, fine. I'll ask. If I find it, I'll tell it you're awake." he laughed and flew from the room. A fuzzy golden eyrie flew up onto the bed-end with a yawn, startling Hane.  
  
"Hey, you're awake." Utagai grinned, "Did you really KO a Kougra? I'm proud little bro!" the eyrie rubbed the fur on Hane's head. The doctor and an officer walked into the room. The doctor was a green Gelert dressed in a white jacket and wearing spectacles, and the officer was a blue Lupe in the typical uniform.  
  
"Good evening Mister Shizenhane, did you have a good rest?" the doctor queried.  
  
"Yeah." "Mister Hane, Neopia Central has been hunting that rogue Kougra for weeks now, and thank you for the assistance. Your family have been granted a reward that should be more than enough to cover their fees for a time to come." The Lupe grinned. "Thank you!" Hane beamed, "Um, do you know what happened to the blanket I was found under?"  
  
"No little sir, but don't you think the fact you're alive is more important than a quilt?" the doctor chuckled, "You're lucky to be here. I thought we were out of your blood type, but there was a donation from a while back that matched you perfectly."  
  
"Who's, may I ask?"  
  
"I don't think she'll mind, she's dead now. Her name was Rabuchi. she donated her blood because she knew she was going to die. She had it planned. Very sweet girl. You owe her your life."  
  
"More than you know."  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"Oh, never mind." Hane grinned. He turned to look out the window, thinking to himself, 'Thank you Rabu. You may have passed on from this life, but as long as I remember you, you will never be dead. I'll see you again'.  
  
Back at the cemetery, a lonely figure glowed. Her form swirled like smoke, and her eyes sparkling golden, large and curious. She sat atop a small stone grave that was covered with graffiti, holding a small photo frame with cracked glass. She toyed with the chain about her neck, and whispered like the gentlest breeze,  
  
"Yes we will Hane. A lot still awaits you. In this life and in the next." 


End file.
